Two-bit sat up slowly when the front door of the front door of the Curtis house freaked open, revealing Ponyboy. The fourteen year old stepped inside and kicked off his shoes, sighing lightly. "Hey Two-bit," he set down his books and yawned. "I didn't see ya at school today."

Two-bit stood and cracked his back. "Yeah, I didn't really feel like going." He watched Pony walk into the kitchen and followed him. "I kinda wanted to sleep in this morning." He opened up the ice box and grabbed a beer, popping off the top. Ponyboy nodded and looked through it as well, before settling for a bottle of Pepsi. "You got a whole lot of Homework?" The older boy asked after taking a few drinks.

  "Oh yeah, I always do." He sighed. "I should really get started on it right now, but I just need a break from school. I'm so tired."

  "I know what ya mean." Two-but nodded, causing Pony to laugh.

  "I'm sure you do, what with you going to school for half days maybe twice a week."

  "And they're very hard days of school. I always show up when a new project is assigned."

  "Which you never do..."

  Two laughed loudly. "Good point kid." A small silence fell between them after that, but Pony didn't seem to mind. He just sat quietly on top of the counter, while looking at the ground, and finished off his drink. After a couple minutes he hopped off and threw away his bottle.

"Guess I should get started..." he muttered and walked out to grab his book before walking back in and setting them on the kitchen table. He pulled out his Algebra homework and stared at it for a few seconds, before finally scribbling some stuff down onto a page.

Two-bit never left the room. He just leaned against the ice box and watched Pony, trying to figure out a way to bring up what he knew would be a sensitive subject. It had been his job to wake up the small greaser for school a few days back, and it was in Ponyboy and Sodapop's bedroom where he found something interesting.

  He had jumped onto the bed and shook Pony awake, which was nothing unusual. After Ponyboy had pushed Two-Bit off of him and rolled out of bed, the eighteen year old noticed a huge stack of papers, that all seemed to have been written on, laying in a neat pile on his desk.

After making sure no one was looking, he had crept over to the desk to check them out. He recognized Ponyboy's handwriting, and after reading over the first page, he quickly realized that it was a story, and Pony had written it. Two-bit wasn't much of a reader, but he was more than a little curious as to what kind of story Pony had written, with himself as the main character.

He drove Pony to school, and then drove right back to the Curtis house to read the story. After grabbing some cake and beer, he settled down on the couch to read what he could.

  I'm an eight hour school day, he managed to read about seven chapters, which was the most he had ever read in one day in his life. He was forced to stop once Steve and Pony came home, but the next day he  anxiously continued, and it was the same the day after that, where he finally finished the book.

  While the entire book was amazing, had had a great theme, one sentence stuck with Two-bit. Just one out of them all.

  "Two-bit?" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Ponyboy's voice. "You okay? You've been staring at me for a while."

He blinked and shook his head. "Sorry kid-" he paused, mentally scolding himself for calling him 'kid.' After reading his book he was trying to be more conscious of Pony's feelings. It would just take some getting used to. "I mean...sorry Pone, I just got lost in thought."

"You're starting to sound like me." Pony smiled lightly.

  "You know it ain't bad for you to daydream sometimes." Two-bit surprised himself by saying. It was sudden and out of nowhere, but he knew Pony needed to hear it.

  Pony tilted his head slightly. "Huh?"

  Finally, Two-bit cracked. "Okay, fine...I read your book."

Pony's eyes widened and he stood up, banging his fists on the table. "Keith Mathews!"

  "It's not my fault! You left it out on the desk."

  "Do you know how stressed I've been not being able to find that? And then I find out that you have it! That was supposed to be private! Only me and my English teacher were supposed to see it!" Pony fought back tears. "There were things in there that I wrote about everybody...I-I...I didn't plan on anyone seeing it..."

"Ponyboy I'm not mad at you," he walked over and sat down at the table slowly. Gesturing for Pony to do the same. "Everything ya wrote in your book was true, or if it wasn't ya made sure to fix it by the end...well...almost everything."

"What do you mean 'almost' everything?"

  "Ponyboy...there was one sentence in that book that I can't get out of my head. I've gone back and reread it hundreds of times, hoping that I was looking at it wrong. I ain't a book genius or nothin' like you are, but I'm pretty sure I'm understanding this right." Pony stayed quiet, almost afraid to hear what Two-but was gonna say. After making it clear that he wasn't gonna answer, Two sighed and continued. "There was a sentence that said: "and they accepted me, because I was Darry and Soda's kid brother and I kept my mouth shut good.""

  Pony was surprised. He didn't expect for Two-bit to bring up that sentence. To him, it was one of the least important sentences in the book. So why did it stick with Two-bit? "I'm confused..." he said finally.

  Two-bit huffed. "Ponyboy...there a difference between acceptance, and importance, ya know that?"

  "'Course I do."

  "Then why did you word that sentence like that? Pony, of course we accept you, but it's not just because your Darry and Sodapop's baby brother or because you never talk. Pony we all care about you a whole lot. You're important to me, ya know?"

Ponyboy crossed his arms and looked down. "I'm not stupid Two-bit...I know I'm just a kid. I'm only a real part of the gang because of my brothers." He sighed lightly. "You and Steve only tolerate me because of them."

The eighteen year old moved across the table to sit next to Pony. He threw his arm around his shoulders. "That ain't right at all Ponyboy. I don't tolerate you, 'cuz I don't have to. You're my buddy, and I really care about you."

  Pony sniffed. "You do?"

  Two-bit laughed and wiped away a few drops of tears that had fallen onto Pony's cheek merely out of stress. "Ah Pony, of course I do. You're our little dreamer...you got a future. Heck, one day you're gonna be in college and living in a big 'ol city, and you won't need any of us any more. You'll forget all about us."

"I would never just forget you guys!" Pony defended. "Two-bit...you and Steve and my brothers are all I have. I couldn't just forget. You're...you're the best friend I got. I always figured you guys would forget about me, I never thought you would worry about stuff about me."

  "Look...I know you've been struggling since Johnny died...he was your best friend. I know I'll never replace him, but I can still try to be here for you. I don't want you feeling like you're just tolerated. We all really care about you Ponyboy." He stood up and pulled Pony into a tight hug.

Pony hugged back tightly and dug his face into Two-Bits chest. "Thank you..."

  Two-bit grinned and messed with Pony's hair. "Don't you go tellin' the boys I'm a sissy or nothing."

"I won't." Pony laughed and let go.

  "Come on," Two threw an arm around Pony's shoulder. "why don't we go see a movie?"

  Ponyboy grinned and nodded, suddenly not feeling tired anymore.